Taking Texas By Storm
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 45

More Fireworks Acoming

When my people and I arrived at the Civic Auditorium, there seemed to be very little activity.   We were met by Mayor Parker and some of the staff members..  When we entered the Auditorium, I looked around, “Mayor Parker, I expected to be talking to more people than this?  I thought you said this meeting was for all city employees.”

“Mr. Waller, I was anticipating a much larger crowd, as well.”

Joe spoke up, “Mayor Parker, the first thing that you need to do is announce that attendance will be taken, as people leave, and that there will be a mandatory meeting for all available employees on Thursday at the same time.  It seems that your city employees think they are above responding to your requests.”

Mayor Parker started to laugh, “Mr. Blank, the scuttlebutt  has it that the city employees resent having to be here at all.  President Waller, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were awkward questions asked of you, during and after the presentation.” 

Mayor Parker opened the meeting and did as Joe had suggested, and you should have seen the looks of the people when she told them that attendance was going to be taken as they departed.  Someone in the audience yelled out, “This what we get from having a mayor who is a lesbian.  She’s going to ruin this city to fit her lifestyle. She’s treating us like infants.”

I watched as the gentleman was escorted from the audience by some of Houston’s finest.

Mayor Parker handled the situation very well, “Ladies and gentlemen, my sexual preferences have nothing to do with running the great city of Houston.  The citizens of Houston elected me to make sure that this city is providing the services that they are paying taxes for.  The city does not exist to take care of the city officials and government employees.  I have asked President Edward Waller of Shell to share what has been happening at Shell, and I would ask that you think how the information gained from his presentation can assist us in better managing the resources of the city.  Please welcome, Mr. Edward Waller.”

Before I could even start my presentation, a woman stood, “Mr. Waller, how is it that you think that you have the right to come in here and tell the employees of the city of Houston what to do?”

“Ma’am, Mayor Parker asked me to come here and share what we have been able to accomplish at Shell, by getting rid of some corruption, and streamlining the operation.  Shell is a small time operation as compared to the size of the city government, and the number of people who work for the city of Houston.  You can’t tell me that there isn’t room for a great many improvements that would result in the city saving money which the citizens of the city are entitled to.  There will be time for questions after my presentation.”

Some of the people started to leave, and Mayor Parker approached the microphone, “I will remind you people, again, that attendance will be taken at the end of President Waller’s presentation.”

There were still some people who walked out.  I was thinking to myself, ‘There are some big problems right here in Houston city.’

I was to find out later just how true that thought was.  Anyway, after my presentation which strictly discussed what had happened at Shell. I received a standing ovation.  A gentleman stood, “I’m councilman Brad Bradford.  I want to thank you for coming and showing us what you were able to do at Shell, in such a short time.  I hope that maybe the employees of the City will think twice about being indispensable.”

Before we departed, Joe, Katie, Oz and Todd each had the opportunity to answer questions.  As we were leaving, Mayor Parker shook our hands, “I want to thank you for coming.  We videotaped your presentation, and we will show it to the rest of the city employees on Thursday.  It will be interesting to see if the media people use any of the footage of what happened today.  Probably not, because there weren’t any real fireworks.  They seem to thrive on reporting spectacular events, especially if the events are negative.”

When I arrived at the house, Uncle Tom and Grandpa Darryl were sitting in the kitchen with Allie.  It was odd to not have any other young people around.  I commented, “It seems so quiet with no other young people around.”

Grandpa Darryl laughed, “You should have been here when Tommy and I arrived.  I think every boy and girl in the neighborhood was in the circle playing kickball.”

Allie giggled, “Grandpa Darryl exaggerates.  Not every child in the neighborhood was here, just most of them.  I didn’t want to be too far away when Mr. Kimball came to pick up Tucker and Jesse.  Bra won’t be here until later.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Grandpa Darryl, how long do you have to wear the patch on your eye?  There isn’t a problem, is there?”

 

“No, Dr. Cochran is really pleased with the results.  It’s amazing what I can see.  I’ll get the patch off tomorrow and then slowly adjust to the amount of light that I’m exposed to, so as not to shock my eye too suddenly.”

“Great, Allie do I have time to get comfortable before dinner?”

 

“Of course, just don’t be too long.”

The evening went by without anything strange happening.  When Brahim arrived he plopped down on the sofa.  “Ed, why don’t you and Allie go visit your parents this weekend.  There is no reason for you to be here.  We’re having a full rehearsal on Saturday before we move the opera stage.  The director is really nervous.  Remind me never to do another show and try to go to college at the same time.  I need to go get ready for tomorrow’s classes.”

Brahim took his backpack and went to the dining room.  Allie had disappeared into his bedroom earlier.  When Grandpa Darryl and Uncle Tom went to their bedroom, I turned on the television to see what might be happening in the world. 

I was almost asleep sitting up when the news started,

“The lead story tonight takes place right here in our fair city.   President Waller of the Shell Oil company, here in Houston, told the city employees that they needed to get off their seats and start providing the services that the residents of our fair city should receive.  While he wasn’t referring directly to the city employees, the  innuendos were there that the city employees need to start earning their pay.” 

“We here at the station agree that it is almost impossible to get anything done at the city hall without a hassle.  It’s time that the city employees are made to realize that they are public servants paid by the citizens to provide services.  The employees have gotten fat and lazy and aren’t concerned about providing services in a timely manner.”

After an advertisement, another person started,

“This is Wilson Paxton, managing director of the station. The number of city employees who actually showed up for Mr. Waller’s presentation today was appalling.  Even all of the city councilpersons weren’t in attendance.  They missed their opportunity to make some changes for the better, here in Houston.” 

“I was amazed that Mr. Waller would make public the details of what was happening at Shell.  But after I had time to think about it, I think it was the right thing to do.  You can bet your bottom dollar that if such things were happening at Shell, they are happening in other companies here in Houston, as well.  The city government of Houston should take warning because the citizens may well revolt and take over city hall, if some changes don‘t take place, pretty soon.”

I turned off the television and turned off the ringer on the phone, figuring that I might start receiving phone calls and I didn’t need the phone to be bothering my guys.

I was sitting there thinking about what had happened when Brahim came and sat down, “Ed, let’s go to bed.  I need to relax.”

We relaxed so well that I didn’t hear my alarm.  Allie knocked on our door, “Dad, are you and Bra sick?”
 

“No, we’re just being lazy.”

“Dad, why was the ringer on the phone turned off.  When I went into the kitchen to start the coffee, the message light was blinking like mad.  There are a lot of messages on it and I don’t understand what they’re about.”

I put on a robe and opened the door, “Allie, I have no idea what the messages are about for sure.  I made a presentation yesterday that must have upset some people.  It’s going to be an interesting day.  If anyone stops by for me, tell them I need to drive myself.  Allie, while I‘m taking a shower and getting dressed, please write down the messages and I‘ll take them to work and take care of them.”

For some reason, I added, “Don’t erase any messages just in case I need to refer to them again.”

As I was leaving, Allie handed me my messages.  I put them in my briefcase without looking at them.  I figured that they couldn’t be very important or the phone would have been ringing off the hook.

When I went to the building there was a strange silence as I cleared security and stopped at the Pit Stop for my latte and Danish.  Tripp looked at me, “President Waller, the picture doesn’t do you justice.”

“Tripp, what picture?  I don’t remember having a picture taken.”

Tripp laughed, “Your mug is spread all over the front page of the morning paper.”

When I walked into the office, both Tammy and J. R. were on the phone.  I looked at the clock on the wall and it was only 7:45.  Who’s calling at this hour?  I heard Tammy say, “I’m sorry, sir.  President Waller’s schedule for today is already full.  I’ll check with him when he comes in.  I’ll call, if he can squeeze you in today.  Company business does come first.”

 After Tammy hung up, she handed me a message.  “I hope you stall meeting with that last creep.  He said the city labor union was going to file charges against you for wrongly accusing city employees of not doing their jobs.”

I shook my head to clear the cobwebs, “Tammy, I don’t remember saying anything like that.  The media people are adding their thoughts to what happened at the Civic Center, yesterday.  You know what, we're going to face this problem head on.  The city employees are running scared.  If anyone else calls, tell them I’ll be glad to talk to them, but they will need to stand in line, because I can’t be committed to a time schedule.  Please, call the staff and inform them that we will be having a staff meeting at 8:30.”

Tammy and J.R. started to laugh.  J. R. added, “So much for not being on a time schedule.”

“Okay, so I exaggerate.  What Tammy told whomever she was talking to, stands.  Company business takes priority.  I’ll be in my office, sorting through the messages that were received at the house and by you two, this morning.  I don’t want to take any calls that haven’t anything to do with Shell, or my family.”

I went into my office and suddenly it dawned on me that I hadn’t seen anyone else, ’What’s happening?’

I was to find out why, at the staff meeting.

Tammy entered the office with a newspaper. “Ed, you might want to read what the newspaper has to say about you and your presentation, yesterday.  I saw only part of the television news last night and it seems to me that the media is using your presentation yesterday to push their own personal agenda with regard to the city government.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, Tammy.  They didn’t need my presentation to push their agenda.  They were too busy to do their own work and grabbed onto what I said about Shell, and the fact that I was talking to the city employees.”

The staff meeting went fine, and as I was about to end it, Mr. Odom mentioned, “Ed, I’m sure that a lot of feathers are going to ruffled by your talk.  What do you plan to do about people who come to complain?”

Todd spoke before I could answer, “I suggest that you not talk to anyone about the city’s problems until after the meeting tomorrow afternoon.  That way, people who weren’t there yesterday will have the opportunity to see for themselves that what has been reported is not exactly correct.  I suggest that all calls and visitors who come here concerning the city, be referred to Grant and he can advise them that you will not be available until after tomorrow afternoon’s meeting where they are planning to play a video tape of yesterday’s meeting.”

Tom grinned, “Grant can decide if the callers or visitors need to talk to you directly.”

Oz raised his hand, “President Waller, I think there is something else that you should know.  Tripp tells me that there are a group of people who are arriving just prior to eight o’clock and gathering at the Pit Stop before going to their offices each morning.  The problem is that they don‘t go to their office until nearly nine, some mornings.”

I motioned to Tom, “This sounds like a problem for the executive vice-president to take care of.  We’re going to be scattered rather thin for the next several days, until we get the technical divisions cleaned up.  Does anyone else have something for the good of the cause.”

Mr. Odom stood, “Ed, I’ve been advised by the London office that they would like for you and some of your people to go to London the week of November 8'th and conduct a series of  training sessions for people from of the offices worldwide.”

“President Odom, that’s out of the question.  That’s the week of Brahim’s premiere.  If they insist on having the meeting that week, we’ll be glad to host it.  However, there is no way on Earth I’m going to miss Brahim's debut.”

Mr. Odom blushed, “I'm sorry; I totally spaced that.   I’ll let them know what you said, as soon I get back to the office.”

Dr. Rudy looked around, “We have been notified of our first court case that is charging Shell Oil and President Waller with unjustly terminating Mr. Abner and Mrs. Bertha Gump from their employment at Shell headquarters.”

All eyes shifted to Grant and Greg.  Greg shook his head, “I promise you that Grant and I knew nothing about this.  Our parents have been acting as if we were non existent for the past month.  The only member of my family that I have had contact with is Grant.”

I stood, “Greg and Grant, I know this has nothing to do with you.  Dr. Rudy and Todd, we need to sit down and have a meeting to see what we can do to get ready to meet the enemy head on.”

So much for the start of a quiet day. 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: It seems as if we are about to see the excrement collide with the air circulation system again.

I am glad to see that Bra is going to get to perform his opera.

I expect that there will be a lot more excitement in the next chapter.

I guess we will just have to wait and see, won't we?

Thanks, E Walk for another great chapter. I can hardly wait for more.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher 

Posted: 10/15/10